Virginia Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer said Monday he will support studying whether the region should build a wider Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel.
Speaking before a gathering in East Ocean View, Homer said he will ask the Virginia Department of Transportation to study a wider tunnel and report back to his office by year's end.
A wider Hampton tunnel has generated interest among some members of the Peninsula delegation to the General Assembly who will not support higher regional taxes unless congestion at the tunnel is also addressed.
A wider tunnel was considered and rejected almost a decade ago because it did not accomplish as much as the preferred third crossing at Hampton Roads, which has already undergone an environmental assessment and is awaiting money to start development.
But with congestion reaching chronic levels at the HRBT and politicians under pressure to act, many see the immediate gain in a wider Hampton tunnel.
Some Peninsula politicians are also pushing whether a bridge could be built linking Norfolk and Hampton, an idea that also has been previously rejected, notably by the Department of Defense over security concerns. Homer said he would ask VDOT to consider this option as well.
Homer made his remarks at the latest in a series of transportation town hall meetings that General Assembly members are hosting in advance of the planned special session this summer.
Monday's session was organized by Del. Paula Miller and Sen. Ralph S. Northam, both Norfolk Democrats, who wanted to hear from constituents.
Another meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Chesapeake City Hall. It's being organized by Del. John A. Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, who is trying to organize the Hampton Roads delegation into supporting a regional transportation plan after a Virginia Supreme Court ruling in February that crippled the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority.
Many at the Norfolk gathering appeared supportive of the region's existing ideas for improving the region's road network. But they were skeptical of a wider Hampton tunnel because it could force the state to widen a section of Interstate 64 that leads to the tube and claim homes from Commodore Park to Willoughby.
The idea of a bridge drew skepticism from some who doubted the Navy would allow one to be built and saw the idea as an unnecessary delay to plans already in place to add new tubes.
Wallace Harding, of Commodore Park, objected to the idea because he could lose his home and worried that another decade of study could hamstring any options he might have on selling his home or making improvements to it.
"It would be 10 years before they started anything," he said. "Why should people have to wait to improve their home if they're just going to take it anyway?"
Tom Holden, (757) 446-2331, tom.holden@pilotonline.com
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Is anyone else getting tired
Is anyone else getting tired of the broken record coming from Greenmun. Instead of welcoming the news that VDOT has consented to study the expansion of the HRBT, he ignores that development and starts criticizing the MPO and the six regional projects. Of course, what used to be a chorus is now an off key solo; the Governor supports the MPO plan, the Legislature does as well, the Hampton Roads caucus supports the plan, as does the Senate and the House, as well as the MPO and all the participating jurisdictions in the region. It must be awful lonely blowing against the wind, but lest anyone feel sorry for him, remember, he and his cohorts have cost each of us $4,500,000,000 in wasted time and extra costs to build exactly the same projects we could have started in 2002 had it not been for their campaign of obfuscation, misdirection, and outright deception. And that campaign continues today.
Positive effect of Va Supreme Court ruling
The ruling of the Va Supreme Court upholding "no taxation without representation" has the beneficial effect of "forcing" our elected officials’ to perform their duties, as demonstrated “by Del. John A. Cosgrove, R-Chesapeake, who is trying to organize the Hampton Roads delegation into supporting a regional transportation…”. The next step is to get VDOT followed by the General Assembly to support and finance the recommendations.
Citizen hostile MPO and HRPDC process is flawed
The all-appointed MPO's closed-door decision process to push over $10B in 6 economic development projects instead of making traffic congestion relief a priority consideration lead to the flawed MPO plan - a plan that failed to offer any meaningful congestion relief at the HRBT, instead hijacking our region's transportation funding to benefit the state-owned port expansion plans. The $4.4B 3rd Crossing and the $2.1B "new" RT 460 designed to move the port's trucks are state responsibilities, not just something we locals should be forced to pay for. The 'ole " let's study this" dodge is one of the oldest tricks in the book. Until more lane capacity for the HRBT is included in the MPO's 2030 regional plan the Peninsula delegation should reject whatever plan is floated to try to salvage bad bill HB 3202. Folks, a "study" is a con job. Don't fall for it.